Taking volleyball to the beach and then to the Olympics provoked explosive growth for the core version of that court sport.

The same exciting thing has just happened to basketball, as three-on-three hoops has made the leap from the streets to the five-ring circus. The International Olympic Committee on Friday announced that the half-court game will be included on the programme for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

The reverberations are sure to be felt wherever basketball is played.

“I think it’s huge,” said Paul Sir, executive director of Basketball Alberta. “It’s a sport more suitable for more people than even five-on-five basketball. It has a place in schools, it now has a place in the Olympics and everywhere in between.

“This is a giant step forward for the sport of basketball.”

FIBA, basketball’s governing body, estimates that 250-million people play three-on-three. Teams of four players (one on the bench) play games on a half-court, indoors or out, with one basket, using a 12-second shot clock. The first team to reach 21 points or better after 10 minutes of play is the winner. It’s a great game for skills development since players touch the ball more often, there is plenty of one-on-one play, and there are no sets or systems.

Sir’s enthusiasm and optimism for the potential impact of the three-on-three game isn’t new. He had played it as a kid in the United States, where it was wildly popular, so he had an affinity for it all along and was convinced it had a bright future. In fact, he and other basketball officials envisioned this day coming as long ago as 2010, when FIBA committed to making a grab for the five rings and the valuable exposure that comes with Olympic status.

Since then, Sir has told everyone who was interested, and surely some who weren’t, about the benefits of three-on-three hoops.

“Fortunately, my foot is out of my mouth now,” he chuckled.

In fact, Sir did more than just talk about three-on-three all those years. He and Basketball Alberta led the game’s resurrection, as he called it. Just this spring, Basketball Alberta launched its inaugural 3×3 Tour, with stops in Taber, Calgary and Edmonton, taking the game to the grassroots, which they have been tending for years.

In 2011, a year after FIBA officials gathered in Denver and declared their intent to go to the Olympics with three-on-three, Basketball Alberta founded an annual tournament for all ages at the Saville Community Sports Centre. Earlier this month, the Saville tournament acted as one of seven regional qualifiers for the Canada Quest Final, which goes July 7-8 at West Edmonton Mall.

The final two combatants in the elite division of the Canada Quest Final gain entry into the FIBA World Tour Masters professional tournament in Saskatoon in mid-July. Sir’s son Steve, a long-time pro and former NCAA three-point shooting star, has already qualified for the Masters event on a Saskatoon-based team.Paul Sir said Edmonton was bidding for the Masters but got “out-foxed” by Saskatoon somehow. Not to worry. He believes the Olympic announcement and Edmonton’s history of supporting the three-on-three game at all levels will provide some serious momentum for the city to chase a 3×3 World Cup, which is the sport’s world championship. The 2017 event goes June 17-21 in Nantes, France, with 2018 set for Manila and 2019 for Amsterdam, so 2020 would likely provide Edmonton’s first opportunity to bid.

“That will be our intention, to get into the hunt,” said Sir.

“The goal is to accelerate the growth of events in the province. That’s going to be easier because it’s an Olympic sport now. It’s not just another recreational form of the game.

“And we are uniquely positioned to be the leader in hosting for a large international event. I have been talking to sponsors, and we have some high-profile people interested. We’re ahead of everybody. And as you know, Edmonton is a special city when it comes to supporting unique events.”

Sir said Edmonton is also growing as a basketball city and Alberta as a basketball province. To prove his contention, he cites a 20-per-cent hike in Basketball Alberta memberships over two years; the fact that provincial team tryouts now attract 140 kids, twice what they used to draw; Edmonton Youth Basketball registration is up 20 per cent; and Calgary is forced to cap the number of youth teams because of limited gym space.

Those all appear to be good things for the long-term health of the sport in all its forms, which is Basketball Alberta’s primary objective.

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Dan Barnes: No more jumping through hoops, 3-on-3 basketball an Olympic event

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